How to store a number along with the sign

Shell Programming and Scripting
1

If I use the below
cut -c37-48, the minus sign does not get appended to the number, as the sign is in the 36th Position.

But, If I use cut -c36-48, the minus sign appears infront of the number, but for positive numbers, it throws an error.

How can this be resolved..

2

please show sample input line/file for us to get exact idea on it.

3

You mean cut throws an error? Unlikely, so perhaps you could also post your script?

4 
abc=`echo <filename> | cut -c37-48`
5

You're trying to cut a piece of the <filename> (as opposed to a piece of the file itself)?

Please show a part of the input file (filename), and such as it is, change your command to:

abc=$(cut -c37-48 filename)
6

but what is there in filename ??
show sample lines please..

7 
while read each_rec
do
  fin_div_count=`echo "${each_rec}" | cut -c1-2`
  if [ ${fin_div_count} -eq 01 ]
  then
      abc=`echo "${each_rec}" | cut -c37-48 | bc`
8

Can you also post an example of a line and the expected output?

And please use code tags!